An authoritative source for one of my favorite observations of Charles Evans Hughes was unexpectedly hard to track down. In case anyone else finds the quotation timely, a citation for it is “Hughes Asks Nation to Join World Court as 1,000 Honor Him,”
New York Times, November 11, 1925, 6:
The American Government is a vast cooperative endeavor. It is the greatest organization in the world for preventing things from being done. It can move swiftly when the essential forces work together; otherwise, it makes a noise but does not move.
